Quotes

I've been performing since I was a child; my mother would have to pull me aside and tell me that I wasn't onstage. I was a cheerleader, president of choir, and in the school play.

Diversity is such an interesting word. I feel like when people hear the word 'diversity,' they think that it means only people of color, when in reality, diversity is all-inclusive; it means everyone.

A man can get my attention by smiling at me and then coming over and talking to me. The best way to get a girl's attention is to start a conversation.

I have a girl crush on Olivia Munn so much, especially on 'Newsroom.' And Cara Delevingne, but who doesn't love her face? Viola Davis is my acting crush.

A man should be well groomed. If you're going to have facial hair, it should be a choice, not an accident.

I thought I was going to be on Broadway. I thought, 'I'm going to do theater.'

When you do a play, you have all this time to rehearse and grow into the character. In television, even though you're waiting and waiting and waiting, once you're actually on set engaging in the scene with another actor, time is of the essence.

Sometimes as human beings, we're so contradictory - we may say something or do something and completely contradict ourselves. That's what I'm learning to embrace in television - not knowing what's going to happen.

As artists, we thrive when we can express our comfort and our discomfort. If a certain scene is really challenging for us, if we're in an environment where we feel safe, we're able to do our work.

I want to write. I want to direct. I want to produce - I want to inhabit what I think it means to fully be an artist.

The problem of sexism is getting better, but I don't know if it's getting better fast enough. We see more roles for women that don't entirely revolve around the way in which they function in a man's life, but typically those women are almost always white, and even then, there are only a few of them.

Studying acting has been personally enriching because it has taught me to take the time to imagine what someone else's life experience might be like. To look deeply at how our pasts and the circumstances of our early childhoods mold us as people.

Sometimes people just need to feel heard, and being an actor has taught me to really listen.

The advice that I was always given when asking for advice about acting was that if I could imagine myself doing anything else, anything else at all, then go do that.

Create something for yourself that you feel proud of, that you are in control of, that gives you a better understanding of the type of artist you want to be.

I come from a family of storytellers. Growing up, my father would make up these stories about how he and my mother met and fell in love, and my mother would tell me these elaborately visual stories of growing up as a kid in New York, and I was always so enrapt.

My hair routine is to let someone else do it.

I've been trying to eat healthier, but sometimes it doesn't work out when you're sitting in front of the TV drinking wine, and you realize you really need ice cream to go along with it.

It gets a little crazy at Disneyland. It's a little bit more hardcore then people think.

Love is a complicated emotion because you can learn something or hear something that goes against what you have come to know personally. It can be very challenging to what you believe.

I love Haagen Daaz Caramel Cone, or the Ben and Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake. Pairs well with anything.

When I was younger, it was harder for me to find a black eyeliner that would actually show up on my skin. Being a dark-skinned woman, when you find something that actually shows up on your face, you love it even more.

I'm obsessed with eyeliner - the darker and kohl-ier, the better.

I use Pureology Shampoo and Conditioner, and after shampooing, I'll put the conditioner on, go watch a movie, and wash it out later. When you have black girl hair, once we wash, we've gotta do the whole press and get in the edges and everything. That's a lot of heat to go back to straight on a daily basis.

To meet someone who wants to fight to just tell the truth about what's happening in government... this is a real life superhero right here.